


I'm Not Dead, I Only Dress That Way

by WhatIsDeadMayNeverDie



Series: At War In My Head || Static Quake [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AOS delivers Eden Fesi, F/M, Lincoln Lives, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-06-10 14:06:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6960112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatIsDeadMayNeverDie/pseuds/WhatIsDeadMayNeverDie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was originally much long and very detailed and uber feelsy.<br/>But then AO3 decided to crash when I pressed 'post' and I never got the same muse for it as I did then. <br/>So this is really just a filler chapter to get me back into the groove of the story and hit the main plot that I want to. Thanks for being patient with me.</p></blockquote>





	1. Death In Silence

His heart was hammering in his chest, and he could no longer focus on the beautiful sight in front of him. The whole of the earth. And he was one of the only persons not in it.

_(Poetic, Lincoln, really.)_

Hive's hijacked body floated beside him, and for all of the beauty of the world in front of him, he hoped that  _maybe_ , just maybe, the ancient inhuman could see it, too. 

There was a beauty in this death. _**Silent and quick**_. Sound didn't travel in space, and neither would the detonation of the warhead. It would be over soon.

Eyes closing, Lincoln focused on the one possible thing that he could. Daisy. Her laugh, her smile, her body wrapped around his, the beauty of her bare skin and the feel of her hands holding him close.  _Oh God,_ he loved her so much. These thoughts kept his mind calm and slowed his heart beat, losing himself in every happy moment he had been given with her.

Lincoln let the memories flash before his eyes. The first time he saw her, unconscious and being carried in by Gordon while Jiaying told him to take care of her. The first smile she gave him when he made a joke, the first laugh. Their steady friendship forming over bad jokes and popcorn. Waking up after being taken by Hydra, and seeing her smiling, comforting him with jokes. So vivid in his mind, that it felt like he could reach out his hand and touch her.

_How many seconds left on the damn bomb?_

It didn't matter, Lincoln was at peace.

A pressure touched his elbow as he saw the light behind his eyelids.  _Was that it?_ _Was he dead?_ The light was still bright behind his eyelids and he chanced a peek, only to be blinded by a bright dazzling light as the pressure grabbed his arm more securely. 

A pressure? No, a **hand**. He could feel the fingers digging into his skin. A moment of fear swept over him as he struggled to see who had grabbed him, somehow believing Daisy had managed to get aboard. But looking at his arm, the hand was dark against his jacket. "We don't have _time_." A voice said calmly in an earthy Australian accent before an arm wrapped around his torso, reminding him of the pain in his side from his wound. No, he can't be dead, can he? The hand pressed against the wound and Lincoln's vision went black from the pain, succumbing to the blood loss and confusion.

 

 


	2. First

One of the first things he discovered in the darkness was that he could hear a general hustle and bustle of the world around him. Voices talking, but unintelligible. Someone crying softly. The feel of lips against his skin and soft touches... 


	3. Second

The second thing he discovered was the raw burning of his powers, ripping through his body as he shifted under a hand wrapped in a rubber glove, digging against the wound...


	4. Third

The third thing he discovered was his breathing. Calm and restful. His eyelids too heavy to move...


	5. Fourth

The fourth thing was the feeling of lips brushing his, a hand sweeping over his hair, and the whispered words of " _I love you, Lincoln._ " He didn't dare to hope...


	6. Six Months (and a few days) Later

Lincoln felt drugged. Sluggish and tired, his muscles refusing to cooperate with him as he willed his eyes to open, wondering what in the Hell kind of afterlife he had ended up in. 

Knowing his luck, it was Hell. 

Giving up opening his eyes as a lost cause, just too tired to care, he relaxed his body into the bed he was clearly laying on. Just listening. Letting the familiar buzzing of his cells drown into the background. 

Someone pacing, someone shifting in their chair.

"If you insist of staying awake, drink some coffee. You're making _me_ tired, girly."

"No, not now. Maybe in a bit though." Lincoln's heart gave a jolt. He hadn't dared to hope... Immediately focusing his efforts into opening his eyes, he missed the next part of the conversation passing between the two in the room with him, one who was  _definitely_ Daisy (doing the pacing). Managing to squint, the room was blurry beneath his lashes. Wearing all black, it appeared Daisy was pacing next to his bed (he could tell by that  _very_ familiar butt whipping past his limited view. Internally, he gave himself a reprimand... but also a silent chuckle.)

For the moment, he contented himself with watching her, having thought that he would never see her again. "I just don't understand why he isn't waking up? SHIELD will track me soon--" She was running from SHIELD? Oh, Lincoln definitely wanted to know  _that_ story. Seemed to have escalated quickly in the day-- _days?_ \-- he'd thrown her out of the quinjet. "Soon, girly, soon." The voice was familiar, tied to the arm that had wrapped around him and pulled him into oblivion. 

Daisy stopped pacing, turning to him and flailing her arms in an exhausted motion. "Wake up, _you jerk_. I want you back!" Her voice was on the verge of tears and Lincoln's mouth wanted to move and speak words to comfort her, but he was limited in eloquence, a soft cough leaving instead. It seemed the whole room froze and suddenly his blurred vision was blocked by her equally blurry face. "Lincoln! Oh thank God, Lincoln. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?" Her hand gripped and lifted his to her face, pressing her lips to his skin. Carefully, he gripped her hand back, holding on to her like a life line. Like any moment he'd be ripped from this wonderful dream and flung into the darkness again. Trying to speak again, his voice only allowed a gruff and soft "Hey, you." 

This was enough, because the next he knew, Daisy had flung herself onto his chest, gripping his hand and letting out the most heartbreaking of sobs. Mostly joy, but also failing to conceal the pain she had felt. Lincoln was pretty sure he was going to sprain his brain with the effort to force his eyes more open, but managed better than he had, able to take in Daisy's face against his chest, dark black hair splayed across his skin as she sobbed. "Don't cry. Don't cry, please." He pleaded with his rough voice, throat working to remember how not to sound on the verge of death with tonsilitis. 

Daisy gave a watery laugh, lifting her head and kissing him like her life depended on it. And Lincoln let his eyes close, deciding if this was when the dream ended and Hell began, it would be worth it.


	7. Thunderstorm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally much long and very detailed and uber feelsy.  
> But then AO3 decided to crash when I pressed 'post' and I never got the same muse for it as I did then.   
> So this is really just a filler chapter to get me back into the groove of the story and hit the main plot that I want to. Thanks for being patient with me.

It had taken him a few hours to process he was 6 months and a handful of days into the future. It had taken him a few hours to process that he was thought dead.

It had taken him a few hours to process that Eden Fesi, the Australian Inhuman saved during the symposium, was capable of manipulating space time and teleportation and had ripped him from his doom. 

It had taken him a few hours to process that Daisy had gone AWOL from SHIELD, and that Coulson originally intended for Eden to find her and bring her to heel after a string of vigilantism had drawn public attention. 

And that Eden had decided to do the exact opposite of that.

It had taken him a few minutes to process that Eden was now traveling seven days into the past to report to Coulson that Daisy had used an icer against him within a moment of seeing him, somehow aware of his abilities.

(“For someone who lost 6 months of time, you seem to be handling this well.” Eden had teased lightly, examining Lincoln’s bandage for any seeping before lifting it and smearing a light green paste across the marred skin. It stung for less than a second, and then felt cool against the wound, soothing him. Unable to identify it, Lincoln’s eyes met with the Aussie’s and immediately knew it was something ‘special’ and not generic neosporin you’d find in a medicine cabinet. 

But he couldn’t complain. The stuff was working. Even the man with an MD could not turn up his nose at a mystery paste that was probably made of plants and milk. Aspirin was from willow trees, and Eden clearly trusted in his cream. 

Lincoln resolved to ask about it when he was feeling 100%.)

It had taken him only a few moments after Eden’s departure to wrap Daisy in the tightest hug he could manage, holding her close as they both sobbed into the other.

And in the moments that turned into an hour after their tears had dried, the sky darkened and a thunder rolled in with lightning, the rain starting up against the glass with loud _tap tap taps_ as it poured.

Neither of them were particularly inclined to move, Daisy gingerly straddling his lap with the pressure opposite of his almost fully healed wound and his arms tightly woven around her waist. Their lips pressing lazy kisses to the other, Linc favoring her forehead and hair and Daisy kissing against his shoulder and neck, sometimes reaching as far to meet his chin or his lips if they were lucky. Whispered “I love you”s were lost in the other, over and over. Repeating what they had never gotten the chance to say.

There was no rush for anything. For this time, nothing was important except holding onto the other like a lifeline. 

(The thunder raged on, lightning flashed, rain poured, and Lincoln and Daisy let nature offer them a celebration of their reunion.)

After a while, Daisy admitted that her body was cramping from clinging into him. Lincoln allowed a laugh as he loosened his arms, her hands coming to rest on his cheeks as she shifted slightly.  Pressing her lips to his once more, she slid to his side, pulling his arm around her as her head found home against his chest, pressing her ear hard as though unable to believe his heart was still beating. 

All Lincoln knew was that he was home.  
_And his home was Daisy._


	8. Of Hair

Daisy is up and moving the next morning, quickly putting clothes into a familiar flowered bag as Lincoln lazily pushed himself up to sit with a wince. Seeing him rise, Daisy passed him the maroon shirt he immediately recognized as his own, worn a long time ago in Afterlife. 

With a questioning eyebrow raise, he tilted his head. “Where’d you get this?”

Daisy stopped her packing, back turned to him. “I found where your old landlord stashed your stuff after you were ‘evicted’. And I took it. The stuff you had at SHIELD… It didn’t _smell_ like you. Simmons meant well, but she washed everything to put in storage before I had a chance to grab something.” Her head peeked over her shoulder, almost looking embarrassed for needing his shirt to cope.

Lincoln took a moment to reflect in that. Daisy had lived _six months_ , grieving him. An ache began to form in his chest before he carefully put his arms through the sleeves and pulled the shirt over his head, careful not to brush his wound. Pushing the covers aside, he made his legs move, lack of use giving him another ache, but pushing on regardless as he stood.

Daisy moved towards him, and he put his hand out. If she planned on running, she couldn’t be hauling him along. He needed to be able to run with her equally. “I’m good. Just remembering how it feels to walk.” A small smile crossed his lips, hoping to comfort her. It seemed to work as she gave a small smile back and resumed packing, half mumbling “I also kind of jacked your laptop as well. I needed something SHIELD didn’t know about.”

Lincoln couldn’t help the chuckle as he slowly moved across the room, inspecting himself in the mirror and rubbing his face. “I _think_ I’ll forgive you for that, as long as you tell me eventually why you dipped out. And I hope it wasn’t _all_ because of me.”

“Eventually, I might. And… You were part of it, but no, not all of it.” She seemed sheepish when she answered and Lincoln turned stiffly to watch her. 

“So, what’s the plan other than avoid getting caught by SHIELD?” Closing the bag, she set it next to the door. “Well, I was going to leave you here for a few days—“ A noise of protest left his throat and she quickly interrupted it with “ _Let me finish_!— I was going to go somewhere else, cause some trouble for them to focus on, and then come back to get you to move on.” 

Lincoln snorted, crossing to her and enjoying the ache in his legs fading as he moved. 

          (It wasn’t so bad when his legs decided to remember they could walk.)

“How about we just move on?”His hands found her waist, turning her to face him. Looking at her for a moment, his fingers raised to stroke a lock of her black hair from her face and relocating it behind her ear. "I don't want to put you in danger." Was her reply as she pressed her face into his hand, resting her hand over it to hold it there. A sign of contact, and a sign of comfort. 

"I think we've already established that I'm in danger no matter what. SHIELD doesn't know I'm alive, not yet, but humans don't easily forget a face plastered across their screens as a terrorist threat. Besides." With a small smile he leaned in and kissed her forehead as her arms wrapped around his neck automatically, anchoring him there. "I already told you, I'll work with you. Only you. Meaning I'll follow you anywhere."

Daisy pressed her face into his shoulder and Lincoln pulled her as close as he could manage comfortably, kissing her temple. "I'm with you."

* * *

 

In two hours, Daisy had managed to get him into a  _rental_ car and out of the city, on the interstate.

         (Lincoln honestly didn't know if she stole it or not, but she called it a  _rental_ , so, he accepted it with no questions asked.)

Relaxed in the passenger seat, he watched her drive, unconcerned with their destination, instead drinking her in as she watched the road, looking tense as she drove and knuckles almost white from gripping the wheel. 

"What?" she asked, giving him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, a smile tugging at her lips. "You're beautiful wearing everything, but are we going to talk about the Morticia Adams hair?"

Without taking her eyes off the road, she lifted a hand from the wheel and half-ass smacked his shoulder. "Shut up." She laughed, the smile appearing on her lips.

"No but really, did you think changing your whole look would throw SHIELD off your tail, or did you hit an emo phase I should be worried about? Hawthorne Heights is a good band and all, but their lyrics are generally fucked up." Lincoln managed to avoid the second swat, laughing as she attempted to glare at him out of the corner of her eye before looking back at the road. 

"I knew someone who got their hair done every time something traumatic or sad happened to them-- an emotional upheaval-- she thought it was a 'new start', especially after a bad break up. The first time I did it, it was after Hydra came out of the shadows, Ward was Hydra and Coulson had to restart SHIELD. I cut in my bangs. I never had time to do anything after Trip died, but then everything with my parents happened... And I needed a new start as Daisy Johnson, so, I cut all of my hair off. And then... And then I was under Hive's sway, came out of it to watch Andrew die, dealt with withdrawals and then... I lost you." 

Lincoln quietly reached up his hand to take the one of her closest to him and squeeze it. "Okay. I can get that. I like it, honestly. I just had to tease you. Your someone had a good idea." 

Daisy's hand gently squeezed back, lowering to the seat between them as she seemed to relax, Lincoln running his thumb along her skin as he turned his head to finally look at the road. 

"I think she did, too." Daisy answered after a minute, squeezing his hand once more.

 


End file.
